QWERTYMage
New Member
OK. This has a lot of words... I'll keep it as clear as I can.
The Bike:
1975 XS650b. Stock Alternator (field excited).
The Variables:
M-Unit Blue (I cooked my M-Unit V2 - moron that later). Antigravity 4 cell battery (Cooked an 8 cell and a 4 cell too - this is getting old and expensive). Oregon Cycle Works VRREM7-XS Regulator/Rectifier (It worked great before - http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com/Reg_rec_units.html )
The History:
Meltdown #1 - I had the bike hooked up to an m-unit V2 and an antigravity 8 cell. It ran like a top, took long rides, and behaved like I knew what I was doing. The Reg/Rec is handmade and table tested. Worked like a champ. The test wire was hooked up to he V2's Aux output (along with the ignition). I had to remove the carbs to clean them out and upon putting the bike back together, didn't tighten the regulator's ground wire down and it vibrated loose. The 8 cell melted down (THAT was fun) but the V2 came out OK. My best guess was that without consistent power because the ground wire wasn't completely engaged, it drained the battery beyond it's limits, then when it started getting intermittent charge, it 'sploded a bunch of smoke and juice.
Meltdown #2 - I got a 4 cell Antigravity battery (not running a starter) and ran the bike - until the battery 'sploded a bunch of smoke and juice again. This time, the m-unit v2 was cooked too. Upon inspection, my ground wire was properly tightened down, but the Regulator's plastic block was worn out, and the metal tang holding the metal connector was pushed out instead of connecting - I couldn't see it and didn't test the connection before ruining the m-unit. THAT was not fun.
So, here I am. I've got PTSD from all this and am testing the balls out of my system. New M-Unit blue, new Antigravity 4-cell. I have replaced the plastic block (and the connectors that go in it). and I'm coming up with a regulator problem... the Regulator sensor wire is hooked up to the Aux 2 output.
The Good:
The Blue turns on fine. The bike starts and runs fine at idle. I've tested ALL the wires at the block to make sure they are connecting correctly and are in fact passing current as they should. They are. I've tested the regulator by turning on power and testing for current on the positive and negative (12.4 volts - instructions on testing the reg were grabbed here: http://chris-kelland.squarespace.com/regrect-unit-xs650/ ) so this tells me the regulator is passing juice to the brushes as it's intended.
The Puzzling:
To test to make sure the regulator is limiting the charge to 14.5v, I hook up a meter to the battery tender (direct to battery) and rev the engine to 3k rpm. The meter reads past 16v and the m-unit started the blast-the-horn-shunt process it does when you are about to make a costly mistake again. I very quickly killed the engine and pulled the fuse (20A) just in case.
The questions:
1. The Regulator isn't regulating. Is it possible I somehow cooked the sensor circuit? (logic is telling me this is the case) Is hit hooked up to the wrong output on the m-unit blue?
2. The batteries were drained and damaged (no strong negative circuit on the regulator) then exploded when the minimal charge was put into them? I wanna rule out something else entirely.
Here's a picture.
Thanks for the help. Ride safe.
The Bike:
1975 XS650b. Stock Alternator (field excited).
The Variables:
M-Unit Blue (I cooked my M-Unit V2 - moron that later). Antigravity 4 cell battery (Cooked an 8 cell and a 4 cell too - this is getting old and expensive). Oregon Cycle Works VRREM7-XS Regulator/Rectifier (It worked great before - http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com/Reg_rec_units.html )
The History:
Meltdown #1 - I had the bike hooked up to an m-unit V2 and an antigravity 8 cell. It ran like a top, took long rides, and behaved like I knew what I was doing. The Reg/Rec is handmade and table tested. Worked like a champ. The test wire was hooked up to he V2's Aux output (along with the ignition). I had to remove the carbs to clean them out and upon putting the bike back together, didn't tighten the regulator's ground wire down and it vibrated loose. The 8 cell melted down (THAT was fun) but the V2 came out OK. My best guess was that without consistent power because the ground wire wasn't completely engaged, it drained the battery beyond it's limits, then when it started getting intermittent charge, it 'sploded a bunch of smoke and juice.
Meltdown #2 - I got a 4 cell Antigravity battery (not running a starter) and ran the bike - until the battery 'sploded a bunch of smoke and juice again. This time, the m-unit v2 was cooked too. Upon inspection, my ground wire was properly tightened down, but the Regulator's plastic block was worn out, and the metal tang holding the metal connector was pushed out instead of connecting - I couldn't see it and didn't test the connection before ruining the m-unit. THAT was not fun.
So, here I am. I've got PTSD from all this and am testing the balls out of my system. New M-Unit blue, new Antigravity 4-cell. I have replaced the plastic block (and the connectors that go in it). and I'm coming up with a regulator problem... the Regulator sensor wire is hooked up to the Aux 2 output.
The Good:
The Blue turns on fine. The bike starts and runs fine at idle. I've tested ALL the wires at the block to make sure they are connecting correctly and are in fact passing current as they should. They are. I've tested the regulator by turning on power and testing for current on the positive and negative (12.4 volts - instructions on testing the reg were grabbed here: http://chris-kelland.squarespace.com/regrect-unit-xs650/ ) so this tells me the regulator is passing juice to the brushes as it's intended.
The Puzzling:
To test to make sure the regulator is limiting the charge to 14.5v, I hook up a meter to the battery tender (direct to battery) and rev the engine to 3k rpm. The meter reads past 16v and the m-unit started the blast-the-horn-shunt process it does when you are about to make a costly mistake again. I very quickly killed the engine and pulled the fuse (20A) just in case.
The questions:
1. The Regulator isn't regulating. Is it possible I somehow cooked the sensor circuit? (logic is telling me this is the case) Is hit hooked up to the wrong output on the m-unit blue?
2. The batteries were drained and damaged (no strong negative circuit on the regulator) then exploded when the minimal charge was put into them? I wanna rule out something else entirely.
Here's a picture.
Thanks for the help. Ride safe.
